


I try to show emotion, but my eyes won't seem to wet

by RoseQueen13



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Descendants (Disney Movies) Fusion, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Has Panic Attacks, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Are Twins, Food Issues, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Nonbinary Logic | Logan Sanders, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Deceit | Janus Sanders, Threats of Violence, Witch Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, i have no idea how this is going to end but i can promise it will be happy, its not huge but they exist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:01:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26327551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseQueen13/pseuds/RoseQueen13
Summary: “They can’t be serious.” Virgil hisses out.Logan's face is as grim as he’d ever seen it, “I’m doubt they’d be doing this otherwise.”“We are proud to announce that the two Isle residents chosen are Logic and Anxiety!” The radio announcer chirped out, the cheerful tone completely not matching the absolute death sentence that Auradon just passed onto the two villains that were left staring at each other, eyes wide.Or how Virgil and Logan, not to mention a few others, accidentally stumbled onto a better future.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, The Dragon Witch & October | Toby Sanders
Comments: 25
Kudos: 119





	1. all the warning signs I've completely ignored

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to anyone who’s taking the time to read this! I don’t plan on having any sort of rigorous upload schedule for this but the second chapter is just waiting for editing and the third being a work in progress so theres that. To clarify about the rating as well, this is only T because of the language usage and the fact that later on there will likely be minor violence, but there will not at any point be anything sexual in this fic. By the way the title of this fic is from ‘Be Nice To Me’ by The Front Bottoms, and the chapter title is from ’Twin Size Mattress’ from the same band!
> 
> Either way I hope you enjoy this!

_Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! ___

__

__Virgil sighs, letting his head hit the desk again, there is no way he’s getting any more reading done in his spellbooks with the rain making that much noise as it hit the roof of his house. The words were blurring anyway and when he checks the rusted clock that looks a hair away from falling down the wall, he's not as surprised as he probably should be to see that it says one AM._ _

__

__The sound of Virgil’s bones cracking fills the small space that he calls his bedroom as he gets up from where he must have been sitting for hours, feeling a wave of relief after moving from the cramped position. At least his dad isn’t gonna be awake right now, not like the bastard does much other than tend to their small apocrathey and sleep anyway, so it's a fair chance he will get a free shot towards the hideout._ _

__

__It's not like his dad knows about the hideout anyway, which Virgil couldn’t be more happy about, especially since it's a place he, Remus, and Janus, or Anxiety, Intrusive, and Deceit as they were known on the isle, established a few years ago._ _

__

__It's housed in a few rooms in an abandoned building, which is far enough away from any of their parents residences that they don’t have to worry too much thankfully, and its entrances had been covered by rubble until the three of them pitched in to remove some of it to make a small, barely noticeable entrance. Virgil gave a small chuckle to himself while moving through his room as he recalled the crude comments Remus had made at the debris the entire time before Janus snapped and told him to shut it._ _

__

__He finished packing his pockets, cause god knows you don't carry around a satchel unless you're willing to risk getting robbed which he was _not_ tonight thanks, with his knife and some other small weird-ass assorted items he knew Remus is gonna want to look at. By the time Virgil made it out of the small shack he called a house, the rain had slowed down enough to make walking through the streets without slipping and falling possible. It isn’t the best night to walk around but Remus had mentioned earlier as they were doing some minor havoc-making that tonight's gonna be one of those times where the gang needs to get together in private. _ _

__

__To his annoyance, it took a good 15 minutes of Virgil slipping through alleyways to get where he needed to go, normally it would have taken less time but of course one of Gaston's brats had been hanging around the bridge he normally would pass through at this time at night._ _

__

__The building he's heading to looked like something out of a horror movie, with the way the rain and the shadows cascaded over the abandoned building. Smirking with the thought, Virgil starts pushing away the small rock that hid the handle for the tunnel, which used to be a trash chute but they had repurposed it to turn it into an entrance, he started to climb the ladder up to the main floor._ _

__

__“... And then the guy exploded into little bloody bits!” Remus shouted from his place on the rusted and stained to all hell metal chair they had found in a dumpster two years ago._ _

__

__“A delightful sight to see I’m sure.” Janus drawled, his scales shimmering in the little light that the candles positioned on the table gave off, as he shuffled cards on the couch, probably prepping for another poker game with Remus, judging by the way Remus was tossing what looked like poker chips in the air._ _

__

__“Anything new going on while I was gone?” Virgil grinned at the middle finger Remus popped up right after seeing him._ _

__

__Janus shot up from his slouched position, losing his smirk as he looked at Virgil and motioned for him to come farther into the room._ _

__

__“According to Remus’s _'trusted' _sources, our beloved rulers from Auradon are going to make an announcement about us.”___ _

____ _ _

____Virgil blinked before replying, “What the hell does Auradon want to do with us bastards?”_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____“No one really knows shit, but rumors seem to be flying around that it has to do with that boring Crown Prince.” Remus called out from his spot leaning against the seat._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____Janus raised an eyebrow, “That's oddly tame for you.”_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____He grinned right back, “I can come up with worse if you want! I bet he’s a-”_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____Virgil interrupted, rolling his eyes at the two, “I know we’re all terrible at this but can we focus for like a second?”_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____“Speak for yourself.” Janus drawled, despite the fact that the bastard was high-fiving Remus._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____Virgil grinned a bit before continuing, “Do you think it's focused on all of us Isle bastards or if it's for one of us specifically?”_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____“Maybe they're gonna kill us all!” Remus shouted_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____Virgil rolled his eyes at Remus, “We should probably plan as if it's for specifics, just in case.”_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____Janus inclined his head towards him once he finished, “If it's a specific then they are probably going to be targeting a higher-scale villain heir.”_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____“We should be with the spawn most likely to be picked out so that we get all the _juicy _details.”___ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______“What parents are prominent enough to get any type of serious inspection on their kids from Auradon?” Virgil hurried over to the stained metal table Remus had dug out of a dumpster that Virgil was pretty sure wasn’t there the last time he was here. They’d gone through a surprising amount of tables before they all just sighed and got a mostly unbreakable one even though they all doubted that would stop it from being destroyed within the year, but apparently that even that didn’t hold up for long._ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______“Let's make a hitlist!” Remus leaned over the table he was sitting at towards Virgil and gave him a slightly unhinged grin_ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______Janus nodded, “Well, we can cross Remus and I off that list pretty quickly, as I don’t think the Queen of Hearts has abandoned the effort of trying to hide you and even then, the chances of them making an announcement about finding Remus are low.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______“What about the youngest daughter of one of the stepsisters?” Virgil put in._ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______“Maybe. Put Dr. Jekyll’s protege down, they might not actually be his child but Auradon has gotten confused with that type of affair before and it isn’t an uncommon misconception.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______The three continued like that for a while, with everyone throwing out various ideas about who it could be, before it was agreed upon for who would go visit who._ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______Janus groaned, his head in his hands as he leaned against the wall from his spot on the floor, “We _definitely _shouldn’t wait until morning for this, I don’t know about you idiots but I’m about to collapse.”___ _ _ _ _ _

________ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Remus nodded, “Those Auradon assholes care about their beauty sleep too much for them to do this at the witching hour.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“The witching hours at midnight, you buffoon.” Virgil squinted at him from where he was half-collapsed on the table._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Then why did that witch try to perform an exorcism on me at 3 AM?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Probably because you broke into her house and screeched continuously at 3 AM while breaking all of her shit that looked even _vaguely _like a cross.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Janus glared at the bickering pair, snapping “If you both continue to not sleep then I _definitely _won’t dump out your coffee in the morning.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Yeah, yeah.” Virgil grumbled as he moved into his military-style cot he bought from Jafar's place ages ago on the floor, yawning as he watched the taller boy flop onto the couch, his rat nest of brown hair looking hideous as ever, and Janus curling up on the armchair._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Tomorrow was either going to be the normal hell or the extremely interesting hell, and Virgil still isn’t sure which one he wants more._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________\-------_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Wakey-wakey, the eggs are flakey!” Virgil groaned as Remus kicked his cot._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________He rolled over on the cot, saying loudly, “Do you fucking mind?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Nope!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Heaving a sigh, Virgil pulled himself out of his blanket cocoon, already wishing he were back in it. Thankfully Janus had made coffee, though Virgil took no small amount of glee in seeing that his hair is messy messy with his hat skewed no doubt because of Remus’s antics, which the bastard deserved for letting the rat pull the same on him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“So when are we heading out?” Virgil said as he buried himself in his favorite black hoodie and curled up on one of the chairs in the vaguely kitchen-like-area while grasping his sludge they called coffee like it was his lifeblood, mainly because it might as well be at this point with how much he drank on any given day._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“As soon as you and I are _not _somewhat awake and functioning.” Janus replied, sipping his own cup of coffee in a mug that Remus had fished out a few years back for him that said ‘Lie, fuck people over, cry, repeat’ in a weird checklist format that had Virgil cracking up so much when the boy showed it to him that they had been practically required by everything evil to hand it over.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Well I don’t think I’m getting any more awake than this, so i’m gonna book. You wanna go with me?” Virgil directed at Remus, as he stood up and cracked his back, groaning loudly. Remus nodded so furiously that Virgil thought maybe his head would fall off for a second, before he stood up and started to walk towards the door, waving as he went to Janus, who was still sprawled across the counter sipping coffee and got a belated wave in return ._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Thankfully, it wasn’t a very sunny day, so Virgil wasn’t immediately murdered by any rays of light, the only problem being of course that it made it ten times easier for somebody to hide and watch them or ambush them._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________It wasn’t like it was an unfounded fear, no matter what Janus or any of the others always tried to say. Rumors had been circulating around this side of the isle that the Waller twins and their gang of lackeys were becoming more aggressive, and it really wouldn’t be as uncharacteristic as Virgil would like it to be for them to use the bad weather as a chance to try and off some of the more influential teens on the isle, ie. Virgil's people._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Sadly, as he reflected with no small amount of irony, it's not like the other people living here are any less likely to try and hide in the shadows to mug some guys, regardless of how vaguely influential to local teen villain politics the people they're getting a hit on happen to be._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________A bit of movement flashed in the corner of his eye and Virgil flinched away, only to let out a small sigh of relief when he saw that it was just Remus starting to skip down the alleyway, grinning like the cat that caught the canary for literally no discernible reason._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“How the hell are you going so fast,” Virgil called out as he tried to keep up, “Skipping has literally no right to be that fast!”._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“It's the bleach i put in my coffee!” The other boy chirped from where he stopped in the middle of the damp street._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Virgil groaned as he jogged over to where Remus was, “If you slipped anything into mine, I am going to kill you when we get back.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Aww, Anx! You do always give me the best ideas!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Yeah, yeah, you intrusive bastard.” Virgil replied as he and Remus started walking again, finally getting on to the part of the Isle that they needed to go to._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Somehow, the two managed to make it up to where they split ways without any sudden ambushes or muggings. Though to be fair Virgil swears that the cat sitting on the crate near the docks had been looking at them weirdly, but when he mentioned that to Remus, the other boy just tried to poke at it until he had to intervene._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Remus turned towards him when they reached the intersection, nodding and saying, “I’ll see you when we report back to the big D!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Virgil just smirks, “He’s going to smack you when he hears you called him that again.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Not when I’m sucking his dick!” the taller of the two called out as he ran away towards where his assigned person was._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Letting out a sigh at his friend's antics, Virgil continues forward. The house that he was heading to wasn’t too far away, which he was thankful for if only so his combat boots could get out of the water that was still in puddles on the street after last night's rainfall._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________To be perfectly honest, Virgil wasn’t entirely sure on this plan, he knows that if Janus were here he would say something about it being the best plan they could make given the limited information, but it still irked him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________What if it was a serious isle-wide announcement? They’d all be separated, and no offense to the people they're meeting individually, with the single exception of the girl that Janus is meeting because she stole some of his bread once so screw her, but if it was something serious he didn’t want to be stuck with people outside of his friends._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Virgil snapped himself out of his worrying as he approached the low concrete building that he would be spending probably the next few hours in. The door, which to be honest was completely characteristic of its main inhabitant, had several warnings taped over it, including the startlingly original ‘Stay Out’ and ‘BEWARE: Chemicals’._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________If this were his first time entering and he didn’t have a vague sense of a plan, Virgil probably would have balked at those warnings, which did happen his first time here since he chickened out and booked it only to be dragged back later. Right now though, he just puts a smirk on and knocks out the first three digits of pi in morse code, because for some reason the person on the other side of that door had insisted on that being the entrance code._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________The door opened with a loud creak, and Virgil only grinned more as he saw the person who was opening it, before he ducked under their arm and hurried quickly into the linoleum-floored building, a faint pang of gratefulness ringing in his chest for being allowed to get out of the wet outside._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Greeting Anxiety, I was not aware that you were coming today. Is something wrong?” Logan, or Logic as most knew them, raised an eyebrow at him, even as they moved to close the door to their house. Though it was more of a lab if you wanted to be accurate, Virgil wryly thought._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________The two moved through the hallway together as he started to reply, “Sorry about the late notice Lo, but you were telling me earlier about those reactions you were getting with your newest experiments, and I was wondering if there were any new results with that?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Logan's lips twitched up for a second, in what Virgil might have called a smile if not for it being from the person in front of him, before settling down again as they both stepped into the lab illuminated by lights that occasionally seemed to flicker._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“The experiment is going along as well as can be hoped due to the limited resources, but yes, there were some _interesting _results lately to say the least.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________The two settled down in the lab, Virgil on top of one of the cabinets and Logan in their office chair, before Virgil raised an eyebrow, “Well considering that you stumbled onto me half-out of a window with a bunch of obviously stolen stuff and just raised an eyebrow at me before handing me the documents i was looking for, I gotta know what ‘interesting’ means.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________“What I mean by ‘interesting’ is that when the two compounds are mixed, the reaction seems to create something similar to several prominent poison curses used in several of the magical research books, I was talking about yesterday. I can show you now if you would like.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Time passed quickly as the two compared results of the chemicals Logan had combined and messed with after stealing them from their teacher who had somehow managed to apply some sort of magic to them. Logan and Virgil weren’t amazingly close, but they had shared a lot of classes over the years. Eventually they got the grand idea of working together, and when you combined Logan's knowledge of chemistry and various sciences, with Virgil’s knowledge of obscure curses and magic rules, a pretty formable partnership was easy to make._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Even both their guardians approved, which was somewhat surprising considering the fact that his dad didn’t seem to care much for anything and Logan’s was one of the most paranoid people he’d ever had the chance to meet._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Well, Virgil thought to himself, it does help that the concoctions the two can make together, even without access to magic, can make a fair bit of pretty penny at the local market._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________He knows that he should be asking Logan about information from Auradon but it has always been easier to talk to the other teen once you got them going about the things they are interested in, and to be honest the information they were talking about did seem like they could be pretty useful, not to mention just generally interesting in a sciencey manner._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Virgil was leaning over one of the books that Logan was showing him on curses, about to ask them a question on a specific detail mentioned, when a crackling sound filled the room._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________“What the fuck?!” Virgil almost jumped out of his skin before standing up and glaring around the room, trying to find what made the sound._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Logan frowned but pointed in the direction of what looked to be a small old black radio on one of the shelves of one of the many bookcases standing against the wall._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________“That is odd, perhaps a frequency is being sent out?” Virgil heard the other teen mutter to themself as they adjusted their square-style glasses and moved towards the radio._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________At least now they know how whatever the hell Auradon was trying to say was gonna come out now, Virgil sighed to himself. The only problem though, he thought with a slight grimace, was that now pretty much everyone with a radio is gonna know what’s happening, which depending on whatever the hell is coming next, will either be a blessing or a curse as Janus would say._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Both of them crowded around the radio, with Logan being the one to actually try and fiddle with the dials to find something. After a few seconds of this, they finally landed on something that didn't sound like random static._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_________________“-elcome Isle residents! Auradon has an exciting announcement for you all!” _The radio crackled out.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________Logan raised an eyebrow, muttering, “What does Auradon want with us this time? It is not as if we pay taxes that they have to collect.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________Virgil turns toward him for a second as he feels the tips of his mouth turn upwards in a reluctant smile, “Can you imagine if Auradon made us pay taxes? I’m pretty sure my old man would rather die.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________Just before the taller of the two could reply, the radio crackled again loud enough for them to both jump slightly and turn. _“Auradon is ready to welcome with open arms two of the youth from the Isle, who the Crown Prince has chosen in his newest first declaration! We hope both will be just as excited to enter our school and community as we are to have them!” _____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________“They can’t be serious.” Virgil hisses out._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________Logan's face is as grim as he’d ever seen it, “I’m doubt they’d be doing this otherwise.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____________________“We are proud to announce that the two Isle residents chosen are Logic Jekyll and Anxiety Koshkin!” _The radio announcer chirped out, the cheerful tone completely not matching the absolute death sentence that Auradon just passed onto the two villains that were left staring at each other, eyes wide.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	2. every conversation puts me back on medication

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is from Painkiller by Beach Bunny! Also quick shoutout to HikariDawn for being my beta!

“We’re so screwed.” Virgil muttered from his place curled on top of the cabinet, as he watches the other obviously stressed teen pace around the room.

“The chances of us being ‘screwed’ as you would say it, the minute we leave this building do happen to be substantially higher than they usually would be.” Logan ran their hands over their bespectacled face.

Virgil still can’t believe it to be honest, the two of them being handed a silver key to go to Auradon seems all but impossible. Not to mention one of the worst things that could happen in his opinion. By all evil everyone's thought about leaving the isle before, who wouldn't? But being chosen by Auradon to leave? That's pretty much the Isle equivalent of being chosen for the firing squad.

Abandoning that thought for a second to return to the other teen, Virgil grimaced replying, “At least nobody knows that I’m here.”

Logan spun towards him, their frown growing deeper and eyes widening in what might be panic, “Do Deceit or Intrusivity not know where you are? I assumed that you all were aware of each other's whereabouts the majority of the time.”

Virgil blanches for a second, the thought of being even vaguely in this type of situation without the others knowing where he was makes him want to curl up even harder into a ball than he already was.

“Um, yeah they do actually. But they’re only two people, there's only so much they can do on their own, especially since we’ve all had only like 10 minutes to prepare for whatever the hell is coming.”

“Still, better to have more information than none.” Logan nods at him, the frown still tugging at their lips.

By all things evil, him and Logan are going to be dead the minute they leave the building, and maybe even before that. It wouldn’t be completely out of left field for someone to try and break in if they took too long to show themselves. Virgil ran his hands through his hair and gnawed at his lip. Remus and Janus are tough and evil knows they can hold themselves well enough to survive, especially together, but this isn’t just one small gang of villain spawn, this could easily be the _entire_ _fucking_ _Isle_.

He laughs lowley to himself, remembering what Janus had said earlier about the announcement,  _ ‘I highly doubt this will actually be anything that impacts any of us, it's probably just going to be about that high and righteous Prince.’  _

__ They really had had no idea about the shitstorm that was certainly about to start and had literally no backup plans for a situation like this. For evil's sake they had a back up plan for alien invasion, which to be fair was a joke made by Remus and him, but it was better than nothing at all, which is what they have for this.

Virgil exhaled heavily and turned to look at Logan, “I guess our options at this point are hunkering down here or trying to find Deceit and Intrusivity while risking the outside.”

Logan nodded in his direction, their eyes closed as they massaged their temples, “There is a back entrance that is rarely used or known about that could be useful in this predicament, however the others might already be on their way here and in that case it would make more sense to wait for them to come get us.”

“If they get held up by people who want to find me then they’re gonna take a while to get here, and by that time people might already be trying to break into here.” Virgil counters.

Logan’s frown only grows, “If we want to prepare for both options then the best course of action would be to split up.”

Virgils already shaking his head before the last word even gets out, “One of us alone out there will be a target, and they’re going to get screwed faster than the other can say ‘bye’.”

“Assuming we are leaving then, it would be the best course of action for us to quickly bulk up the defenses and grab what supplies we can, in case we are not able to return.”

“I guess we should get packing then. I take the left side of the lab, you take the right?” He said, as he jumped off the cabinet. 

Honestly, the idea of Janus and Remus running here only to find the place abandoned scares him, but the idea of them getting killed by people trying to find him is a billion times worse.

The lab, for all the pocket change it's given Virgil in his time there, packs up surprisingly easily. The left side of the lab is mostly made up of tattered books and a mixture of random office supplies with rusted, near broken down, lab equipment. The books are really the only thing worth taking anywhere, even though the equipment took years for Logan to scramble together, but when he asked the other teen whether to take it or leave it, they just replied that Auradon will have places to steal more from according to his mentor. 

Virgil still can’t believe that in a matter of days he’ll be in Auradon, it’s stupid but he already kinda wishes that going back to the hideout and flopping into a pile of limbs and bodies with Janus and Remus was possible. It isn’t lost on Virgil that the radio person had only announced one name other than his own, and Logan may be a good enough ally, not to even mention tactician, but he would kill to have Janus’s snide remarks or even Remus’s weird euphemisms, though he’d rather die than admit it to the other boy, accompanying him while he gets ready for the inevitable.

Most of the books Virgil was tasked with choosing to pack or leave were just random chemistry or science textbooks that Logan and him had either bought or scrounge up from the trash heaps deposited by the barges from Auradon, which is why he paused when he saw one that he had never seen before in his time spent with Logan . 

“Hey Logic, what's this? I’ve never seen you use it before.” Virgil turned towards the other teen, waving the thin blue book in the air. 

Logan turns towards him from the opposite side of the lab, where they were hunched over some glowing test tubes, and clears their throat before saying “Ah. That is a book on the topic of substances with potion like effects that can be made with ingredients found on the Isle which I made from Dr. Jeckyll’s and mines various experiments. I thought it might help to write such things down especially in your studies and so I bartered for the book materials earlier this month.”

Virgil nodded absentmindedly at Logan, already having started to flip through the book. Later, he would have to find something to pay the other teen back with, maybe he could scrounge up another bunsen burner, he pondered, since their current one was really rusted and probably a fire hazard at this point.

The first few pages were just filled with the normal warnings that most Isle people, including Virgil though he usually goes the extra mile with his, put on their spell or potion books nowadays, things like ‘continue on and face the wrath of -insert some random god here-’ or just a simpler ‘back off or get cursed’, since he would probably be using it during research with Logan, he would probably have to bulk it up with more warnings and traps later. However, It's only when he starts to look into the actual potion recipes that things start to get interesting.

Normally, when Virgil or anyone else wants to make something like that, they have to scrounge up a mix of already used ingredients and substitutes, and hope to everything evil that the potion they're trying to make doesn’t require any proper incantations.  Whatever it is with this, Logan was right when they said that it used mainly Isle-available ingredients, probably since that's mainly what anyone here has available. What they didn’t mention was the general mess that the combinations of chemicals and magical ingredients looked like in the recipes. 

Smirking a small bit at the utter insanity that the recipe lists for each potion held, Virgil tucked the book into his back pocket, mentally vowing to check it out and question Logan about it more in depth later. 

Aside from that minor distraction, Logan and him worked fast, mainly because there isn’t really much to save that they can’t replace later if given enough time and effort. 

Within ten minutes both of them find themselves standing in the doorway of the lab, Virgil surveying it trying to make sure that they got everything they needed. from the corner of his eye he can see Logan as the teen just stands there, their eyes closed, breathing deeply, before they turn sharply towards Virgil.

“Have you packed everything you found necessary in the bag I lent you?”

Virgil just nodded, exhaling through his nose heavily as he grabbed Logan by the wrist and started tugging them towards the direction that the other teen had pointed out earlier.

Despite the fact that the building they were in looked like one of those abandoned buildings that you can find on the corners of the Isle with barely any walls and no actual living space, Virgil thought to himself as he moved forward, it was more mazelike than anything.

Once Logan started to pick up the pace, Virgil let go of their wrist and jogged with them through the winding white corridors, the two entering a part of the building that mostly was used for storage that he never had any use to enter in any of his previous times there.

Finally, after a minute of sprinting through the complicated building, both teens stop in front of what looked to Virgil to just be a dead end hallway.

“What now?”

Logan adjusted their glasses before motioning towards the ceiling, “There is a way of hidden exit through the vents in this specific passageway,” They grab a cardboard box from where it was leaning against the wall, “You may stand on this box and leverage yourself into the vent, I can assure you that it is stable.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow, but watched anyway as the tall enbie stood on top of the box and removed the vent covering before pushing themself into it. Sighing, he warily copied the motions, though he was surprised at the fact that the box actually held up his weight, and managed to fit himself behind Logan.

“How long does this go until we get out?” He called out to the teen in front of him, as they both crawled through the dusty vent-system.

Logan stopped for a second to process the words, before continuing on and replying with, “Not more than a dozen yards.”

Well, the less time in this small, dark, and dusty place, the better, Virgil thought to himself. After what felt like ages but was probably closer to two minutes of inching forward through the vents, Logan finally stopped and started pushing something out of the wall in front of them. 

The other teen spilled out the other side and Virgil was met with the sight of a gray sky as he carefully foisted himself out onto the thin grim alleyway below. Logan, the bastard, was already moving through the street without waiting for Virgil to dust himself off and catch up. 

He jogged silently up to the taller teen, taking a second to hear the wind blow through the alley and ensure that no one else sounded like they were around before muttering lowly to the teen beside him, “I was thinking that we should move towards the left street to Gothel’s house, Intrusivity will probably be around there and Deceit should follow.”

Logan nodded and they both started moving, retreating into the corners and shadows instead of the confident walk through the middle of the alley that Virgil might have pulled if he was with Janus and Remus. 

Virgil’s pretty sure he has never been more happy about how easy it is to get from one part of the Isle to the next until now. Usually it just feels stifling but with his people possibly being hurt and his own life on the line if he doesn’t hurry, things change. 

The two of them finally reach the street they were looking for. Virgil turns towards Logan, motioning to the left with a slight nod, and both teens simultaneously turned the corner, pressed to the wall with Logan already scanning for Remus and Virgil readying the knife he carries around in his sleeve.

“Well, it took you two longer than I thought it would to come around, and here you have the entire Isle convinced that you and the Others are a package deal.” A voice rings out from above them, forcing Virgil to back up and whip around the minute he recognized the voice.

Above them, sitting on the roof of the shack, were the Waller twins, dressed up in their usual garb of gray skirts and jeans with those stupid matching red dress shirts that Janus and Virgil used to mock. 

Logan turned, in a much calmer manner than Virgil did if he’s being honest, and peered up at the two, “DW, Toby, I would say it is nice to meet you but I suspect the sentiment would be lost.” 

“What they’re trying to say is what the fuck are you bastards doing here?” Virgil snarled.

DW lightly kicked her feet against the wall, as her twin stood up beside her, “Well you two are the talk of the Isle, can you blame us for wanting to see what all the fuss is about?”

“If there is nothing of note that you have to say, Anxiety and I will be leaving.” Logan replied, their tone cold and clear compared to DW’s shrill voice.

“Actually Logic, I think that we do have something you’d want to hear.” DW grinned, snapping her fingers once before leaning over and letting out a sharp whistle. 

At the sound of the whistle, at least ten Isle teens, clad in leather and most wielding some type of weapon, by Virgil's count, came out of the woodwork, some from the street across, others from the alleyway that they had just left, and a few on the roof with the twins. He could feel Logan go stiff as a board beside him in surprise, and Virgil would be lying if he said that he didn’t also tense up, a growl emerging from his lips without his permission.

DW for the first time in this entire stupid fiasco, stood up, flashing a smirk before saying what she’d probably been waiting to say the entire time, “Now that I’m sure to have got your attention, lets strike a deal, one that works for both sides.” 

The woman takes a deep breath before continuing, “Tell me, who do you think would win in a fight, an old man without access to the magic, or an organized group,” Virgil almost snorts at that, the twin’s gang might exist but it sure as hell isn’t organized, “-of Isle teens with knives? Or hey, lets try that scenario again but with a guy who left his prime ages ago, who do you really think will win?”

Logan interrupts, their hands balled into fists from their place behind their back, “I assure you, if you attempt to harm my father you will receive the same bodily harm that others who have tried also received.”

Toby, for the first time in the conversation which honestly doesn’t surprise Virgil given what he knows about the second twin, speaks up at Logan's words, “Yet, when the time comes to leave, you won’t be able to protect him anymore.”

Snarling at what the other boy’s implying, Virgil interrupts, “You said this was a deal that works for both sides, so how the hell does this benefit either teams?”

“Glad you asked Anxiety, dear. We keep your families, and even your darling friends, safe from other, let’s say advantageous, people and in return, you deliver us all from the Isle. If you don’t manage to do so within, let’s say, two months from the day you leave, then your next of kin and that little gang you’re in will end up losing,” DW pauses as she taps her finger to her chin, with a drama that Virgil might have appreciated if she wasn’t threatening their relatives, “-a finger, for every day after the deadline that you two don’t deliver.”

“Actually, we might have to take an issue with that.” Virgil has never been more happy to hear Janus’s voice than right now. He strolls in from the street behind them, carrying his normal weapons and seeming to be playing to his extremes, with Janus looking more sly than any sixteen year old has the right to look.

For the first time in the entire conversation, if you could even call it that, DW’s smirk dropped and turned into a frown, “I don’t remember you having any part in this except for pawns, and I would really suggest you stay that way.”

“As happy as that would make me, I would rather not listen to a two-star villain who doesn’t even have a proper brand,” Janus cocks his head and snaps his fingers right before the final words, “Remus, do tell what you think of this?”

DW tried to turn around when she heard that last sentence, but behind her was Remus, bringing his morning star down on her head, his white stripe of hair flashing in the metallic glint from the weapon. The sudden ring of noise from the mace hitting her head jolted Virgil into action, causing him to take Logan by the hand and start sprinting in the opposite direction. 

Janus, Remus, and him had done this play before, though with different people in the positions, and he knew that the other two would manage to slip out, even though he also knows he's going to worry about it once he reaches his destination. 

Panting as his lungs ache, Virgil dodged the various other villain teens, both those who were concretely on one side or another and those who just wanted to see what the hell was happening, all while dragging Logan along with him. 

After what was probably only ten minutes by his internal count, but actually felt like an hour, the hideout came into view.

Normally Virgil would have hesitated before bringing Logan, or really anyone, into the hideout, but he figures that at this point both him and them are booking it from the Isle anyway, so they might as well take refuge in there.

Logan looked on, obviously interested in the hideouts entry way, as Virgil started to climb up, ignoring the prickly sensation of the other teen watching him on the back of his neck. 

The room that his group calls home is still in as much disarray as it always is, and if Virgil were being honest, it’s weird, to see the place exactly the same when this morning feels like a lifetime ago. He takes a deep breath, and moves farther into the living space, motioning for Logan to sit down on the couch, which the other teen does without complaint, as he settles on the top of the kitchen counters.

Remus and Janus would be back within ten minutes, or at least Virgil hopes they do, because the overbearing silence blanketing the room as he and Logan stare at each other is making Virgil want to burrow into his hoodie and never leave.

The past day had been a mess and it was only, as Virgil glanced at the rusted clock on the kitchen table, three o’clock. Virgil knew that Logan probably wants to talk about their next move, not to mention how to deal with the problem of the twins. Honestly he doesn’t particularly like not knowing what the hell is going to happen either, but there’s no way that Janus won’t have his own bit to say, not to mention Remus, and he’d rather wait for them before just jumping to all their problems. 

Virgil’s hands, which he had been tapping against the countertop, stilled along with the rest of his body, as the clunking noise of someone or someones climbing up hit his ears.

He shot to his feet as quietly as he knew how, sending wide eyes at Logan while digging his knife out from his pocket, trying to get the other teen, who had also stood up, to take out whatever weapon they had.

Pressing himself against the wall next to the entrance, Virgil waited for whoever’s coming up with baited breath, hoping beyond hope that it was just Remus and Janus. 

**_Tap-tap-tap-BANG_ **

To Virgil's surprise, the series of knocks rang out, causing him to heave a quiet sigh of relief. The three of them had gotten down a pattern of knocks to use if anything happened but that had been years ago, and Virgil was the first to admit that he thought Remus, if not Janus too, had forgotten about their existence. 

Regardless of what anyone did or did not remember, he felt the corner of his lip turn upwards against his will as Janus and Remus tumbled through the doorway only a few seconds after the knocks rang out. 

“Well, that was a pleasure, don’t you agree?” Janus drawled as he turned towards Virgil.

Logan cleared their throat loudly, still standing in a half defensive position by the couch, “I do not recognize what is pleasurable about this scenario, but I suspect that it is better we now talk about the upcoming future.”

“I love it when you get all business-like Logie! Really makes those special places go tingly.” Remus chirped.

Electing to ignore Remus, Janus’s expression turned serious, and Virgil’s almost subconsciously followed, “Logic, I assume you understand what I expect from you in return for this?”

Logan grimly nodded, and it quickly dawned on Virgil what was going on, “Am I correct in the assumption that it will be in immediate connection with the current events?” 

“Deceit, this isn’t the fucking time for this shit, me and Logan are leaving together by tomorrow and I’d rather them not be aching to stab me in the back.” Virgil interrupted.

The bastard just turned his head and nodded at him before continuing, “I doubt that Logic sneaking us into Auradon will settle unfavorably for them.”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this far y’all! The next chapter will probably take a bit longer to get out since, school just started for me, but it will come out within the next two week at the very least! Anyway, I hope you have a nice day and thanks again for reading.


	3. I was pretty pleased with the person I was pretending to be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title is from ‘Summer Shandy’ by the front bottoms because I have chosen a theme and dear god am i going to stick to it. 
> 
> TW! for food (cereal to be specific) and talk of people having issues getting food

Surprisingly, Remus was the one to speak first, his face shifting into something serious that Virgil could only remember seeing a few times in all the years they’d know each other, “I love Logie-bear over here as much as the next person, but I would know if we could cast invisibility spells.”

Virgil feels his eyes widen in realization before speaking out, “You're going to use that book, aren’t you?”

Logan’s head snapped to him before they nodded, “There may be a potion-like substance in there that can be used to complete the task.”

“For evil’s sake, just call it a potion.” Virgil groaned, and Logan frowned, looking ready to retort before being interrupted.

“How long do you think it may take to get it ready?” Janus stepped forward, and Virgil could tell just by looking at him that he was still in what Remus liked to call ‘scary cape mode’, mainly because he tended to be wearing a cape when it happened and acted like he was on top of the world, it usually just made Virgil roll his eyes but this time he just frowned. Logan was going to be their partner for at least the next few weeks, and it’s not like the teen isn’t going to see more of their bullshit during that, so what the hell is the point of putting on the facade now. 

Before Virgil could quietly voice any of this to Janus, Logan spoke up again, their expression cold as ice, “The substances allowing you two to sneak in is supposed to suffice as my return for the rescue, nothing else outside of that.”

“Silence about us would be great too, Logie-bear.” Remus grinned.

Logan just nodded, looking like they already had anticipated this addition.

“Anxiety, would you mind me borrowing the book?” 

Virgil quickly handed the thin book over to the teen, peering over their shoulder as they flipped through it, even as Janus sent him a warning look. Virgil ignored him, mainly because he was genuinely interested in how Logan was going to figure out to get around the barrier making magic impossible.

Logan continued turning pages until they stopped at one, Virgil reading along with them. From what he could tell, the potion the teen was looking at was a shifting potion that, from a quick check of the mental inventory of ingredients, Virgil could tell they would only be able to make one batch of at most. Before he could voice any of this, he saw Logan’s eyes furrow behind their glasses, which knowing his luck meant nothing good.

Virgil found himself proved right when Logan spoke up, “We are likely going to have to use two separate concoctions due to lack of sufficient ingredients.”

“What was the other one you had in mind?”

Logan responded to Virgil’s question by flipping farther into the book until they landed on a page for a potion that had his eyebrow shooting up in surprise at some of the ingredients. 

“This, while allowing the user to become intangible and able to phase through some objects, does have both harder to find ingredients and a more complicated make-up, but the two potions-like substances share enough ingredients that we should be able to make both without too much trouble.”

“How long do you think it will be able to take to create them both? We  _ definitely _ exactly have a surplus amount of time, and an  _ absolutely _ set idea of when we must leave either.” Janus pointed out.

Virgil and Logan shared a look, both recipes said they would take at least 5 hours on their own, but every potion-maker knew there could be hidden variables in making them which could extend the time. Not to mention the time it would take to gather the ingredients, because while Virgil was pretty sure that Logan packed some potion-making materials on their way out, there’s no way they actually have everything they need for it without going on a supply run. 

He opened his mouth to tell the others this, but he could feel his face flush when a rumble emitted from his stomach.

Janus, the mother hen that the bastard was, responded first, raising an eyebrow at him, “You haven’t eaten anything today have you,” he pinned him with a flat stare before turning to Remus and continuing, “Remus, have you eaten today either?”

“Sorry, snakeman!” The teen crowded as he moved to flop onto the couch.

The teen in question just raised his eyes to the ceiling like he was praying, causing Virgil to snicker because Janus has been getting annoyed at Remus’s tendency to forget to eat for ages and his reactions have never stopped being funny.

“I  _ do _ suppose you’re hungry too Logic?”

Logan just shook their head, their posture still stiff as a board, “I ate this morning and I am fine.”

Janus just nodded before moving to the cupboards in the kitchen area of the hideout, opening them until he found a cereal box that had been a lucky find in the last pickup at the docks. As he doled out portions into three bowls, Remus turned towards Virgil.

“Have you gotten a chance to pack all your sex toys yet?” 

Of course they still had to do that on top of the potions, Virgil swears under his breath with the realization that they’d probably have to fucking risk going outside to sneak into all of their seperate homes, with the exception of Logan because the workaholic idiot kept clothes in the lab.

He opened his mouth to tell them about this new shitty dilema they were gonna have to work around when Janus, probably sensing that he’s about to freak out about something else, just points to a bowl on the counter while glaring, before turning to Remus and shoving a bowl in his hands.

Sighing, he sat on the counter and started to shovel cereal in his mouth, his body deciding to start being hungry now that he had food in front of him. This wasn’t exactly a new occurrence, as he and Janus had taken to sneaking out small amounts of food and stocking them in the hideout over the years.

Remus was usually better off then they were due to his mom’s influence, but on the Isle everyone was a target of hunger, no matter who the hell your parents were. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Logan still standing, looking like they had no idea what to do with themselves. Internally rolling his eyes at the other, he let go of the plastic spoon Janus gave him to wave over the teen. 

“Is there a problem Anxiety?” The idiot said as they stepped towards him.

Virgil just rolled his eyes again, “No-I mean, well yeah actually but we can figure it out once we’re finished eating. Just sit down for evil’s sake, we aren’t going to kill you.”

Virgil turned back to slouching over his cereal while shoveling it down his throat, and thankfully his effort paid off in Logan carefully sitting next to him, their posture still straight as ever.

“-And then he finally opened the door and I was like ‘long time no see bitch’ but he just closed the door on me halfway through my sentence!” Virgil turned back into Remus’s and Janus’s conversation only to hear what he was pretty sure was Remus loudly recounting his experience during the past day.

Janus just looked fondly at the other boy, before he set down his cereal and snapped his fingers in a ‘I’m trying to remember something but can’t’ type of way. “Didn’t that ‘scoundrel’ try to snatch your wallet once, Anxiety?”

“He almost did.” Virgil grumbled as Remus tried to stifle his cackles and Janus gave him a low grin.

“Did he not also attempt to steal a mirror off of Mother Gothel, despite the fact that she was looking directly at him, as well? I recall hearing about it.” Logan offered out, their glasses flashing in the light of the slowly setting sun.

Virgil watched as the others laughed at that, everyone tossing in their own stories of hearing people steal weird things or trying to snatch weird things themselves. 

Grinning and taking part in the conversation, it made a little speck of contentment burrow itself in his gut. Though Virgil would be lying if he said that something about this didn’t make him uneasy, like this was just the calm before the storm, and the fact that by the end of the week he was going to be leaving the only place he’d ever been in, didn’t make it any better.

When he looked back up and tuned into the conversation, Virgil wasn’t as surprised as he probably should be that Remus was staring at him, his eyes furrowed like they do when he’s in the middle of trying to figure something out.

“What’s blowing up in your head, Anx? It gonna kill you?” 

Virgil diverted his eyes from the other, before muttering out, “We’re gonna have to leave sometime to get our stuff from our houses and that's on top of making the potions.”

Remus may be better than Janus at understanding the type of paranoia running through his head, but now really isn’t the time for him to bring up worrying about how this all seems like it's going to fall apart as soon as they get up from the table. 

“Potion-like substances.” Logan absentmindedly corrected.

“Anxiety’s right however, we are still missing supplies. Logic, to return to my earlier question, how long will the potions take?” Janus frowned, placing his empty cereal bowl to the side and looking at Logan as he voiced his question.

Logan mimicked Janus’s expression, leaning forward slightly as they replied, “Both concoctions should take anywhere from five to eight hours, but it is possible for us to do both at once, which should ease the process. However, while I have most of the ingredients for them, Anxiety has some in his residence that we will need to procure as well. I trust you know what I am referring to, Anxiety?”

“Yeah yeah, you mean the-,” Virgil rambles off a few of the ingredients that he knows for a fact Logan doesn’t keep in their lab but he usually has access to at his house. 

Logan nodded at him, a distant look growing in their eye that Virgil knew meant the teen was thinking through the potions and how to do them.

“We should go as a group to each other's houses to make sure that we don’t all die alone, while Logic could work on the potions in whatever way they can.” Remus put out, a cold calculating glint in his eye. To be perfectly honest, Virgil admits that while Remus is terrifying when he acts deranged, it's when the teen gets cold that things actually become something people should really be afraid of.

Virgil spoke up at Remus’s words, fidgeting with his hands as he started speaking “Maybe I should stay here and help Logic, you guys have been to my house and know most of what I would need to keep anyway.”

“We don’t know what the ingredients that you need look like however.” Janus countered.

Letting out a sigh, Virgil conceded the point with a short nod at Janus. He didn’t like the idea of any one of them being alone with all the people after them right now.

“If possible, I would like to connect with my father before departing.” Logan spoke up.

They all paused for a second, trying to figure out how the hell they could get the potions done in time, get their stuff, not get killed, and make sure that Logan sees their dad.

“We could stop in on your dear old daddy-oi while getting our stuff and try to figure out a meeting time for you two.” Remus replied, all while staring at Logan, his eyes wide and unblinking in a way that he used to use to creep out Virgil before he told him to fuck off.

Logan just sighed, obviously not super happy with this arrangement but looking willing to go through with it anyway. The teen moved towards their bag and started to take out ingredients as well as other materials, Virgil took the initiative and put the thin book onto the counter.

“Let’s get a move on then, I vote that we stop by Remus’s house first and mine last.” Virgil ran a hand through his hair, wishing that they could just hurry up and get out already.

Finally, after what felt like longer then it should’ve been, the group shoved the cereal bowls to the side, Janus adjusting his cape as he went, and slid down the exit, right after calling out hurried goodbyes to Logan. 

Hours had passed since the morning, and the sun was barely even in the sky, but the trio trudged silently through the cobbled streets anyway. Remus’s house was by far the farthest from the hideout, but they’d be able to work from his house and back down to the Isle. Either way, the group swept silently through alleyway after alleyway, Virgil checking for movement before each turn and Remus watching their backs.

After an hour of avoiding puddles and anything that would make even a small bit of noise, they finally came up to Remus’s house. Compared to whatever the hell they had in Auradon, it was probably barely anything, but by Isle standards, the tall apartment building that the Queen of Hearts held her court in was nothing to scoff at.

Virgil was the first to speak up from where the group was watching the building, hesitantly offering “Should we just knock?” 

Janus sighed, looking at the teen “Remus, do you want to see the Queen or not?” 

Instead of answering, Remus just ran towards the fire escape on the side of the building, jumping on top of an old trashcan and from there leaping onto the ladder before scrambling up it with frenzied limbs. Virgil and Janus shared a look of what could be in the right context, though Virgil would rather die than admit it, concern, before he shrugged and they both moved to follow the other boy.

It didn’t take long to get to the top of the fire escape, where the window, which was cracked in multiple places, to Remus’s room lay. The group had visited the bedroom before, but where usually there was a sense of ease in being each other's space, now there was just a jolting sense of ‘we have to hurry’ running through Virgil’s mind

The bedroom itself was probably more organized than anyone would expect from someone like Remus. If Virgil was being honest, his favorite feature of the room was the rack of weapons, mainly hammers and swords since the morningstar had been a lucky find, that could be found on the right facing wall of the dark green-colored room. 

As Remus bustled around, stuffing random clothes, weapons, and books into a black leather backpack and Virgil scrunched his nose in slight disgust, that looked like it had bile stains on it. 

While he had been roaming the room and occasionally dodging out of Remus’s hurried way, the snake-faced boy was sitting on the window ledge so obviously thinking about something that it made Virgil roll his eyes so hard they hurt. 

“Something idiotic is going through your head right now.”

Virgil narrowed his eyes at Janus when he jumped at the sound of his voice, the teen’s hand coming up to run over his face in exhaustion.

“Seriously dude, it's practically my job to worry, and i don’t remember trying to hire you to help.”

“It  _ definitely _ isn’t the fact that we’ve literally never left the Isle in our entire lives.”

“And you’re worried that any plan we make will fall apart the minute we get to Auradon.” Virgil guesses, fidgeting with the strings on his hoodie.

Janus just heaved a sigh, before going to respond, “We don’t know wh-”

A large **_Clang_** interrupted him, both Virgil and Janus jumping to their feet, their attention snapping to the door of the room where Remus was standing wide-eyed as well.

“That has to be my mom, fucking hide!” Remus quietly yelled at them, which Virgil didn’t even know was possible, but like hell he wasn’t going to obey.

He and Janus scrambled over each other as fast as possible, their limbs a mess as the echo of footsteps that sounded like they were coming closer and closer pounded in Virgil’s ears.

Virgl, some-fucking-way, managed to shove himself into Remus’s closet, wedged in between what felt like a bundle of bunched up coarse clothes and ton of what felt like sticks. He got himself somewhat comfortably, or as comfortable as you can get with a bunch of sticks poking into your side, and the closet door closed just before the door to the room came open with an audible click.

“Duke dear, there you are,” a voice rang out into what was probably a now empty room with the exception of Remus.

“Hey, Mom.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I genuinely thought that Patton and Roman would have shown up by now but yeah they’re not gonna show up for at least another two chapters, so sorry about that to any Patton or Roman stans. Either way, thanks for reading!


	4. i'm okay, thanks anyway

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the longer wait time for this chapter, quick warning that the next chapter might take a bit to come out as well just because work is picking up a lot for me right now!
> 
> song title is from ‘I don’t wanna know’ by Weathers
> 
> TW: mentions of suspected abuse, parent talking to their child in a way that could be perceived as emotionally abusive.

“Hello dear. I was just checking up on you to see how that little project of yours is going.” 

The stick Virgil was sitting on continued to prod into his back, and the conversation that he had no right to be listening to whatsoever made it even worse.

Janus, Remus, and him, for intents and purposes never really talked about their parents or any family that they had at all. It was like two separates worlds, one where Virgil had stilted conversation with his father and they both tried to cohabit the chilling space that was their house, and another where he told ghost stories to his friends that they all laughed at while trying to maneuver Isle politics in a way that wouldn’t get everyone killed.

To be honest the only time people actually liked to talk about their parents on the Isle was to either brag or hold it over others, and their group had never done anything different.

It's not his place to listen into the conversation, but his ears tune in to it anyway, even as Virgil tries to shift around as quietly as possible to get away from the noise.

“-ur sure that this is a good idea?” Remus’s mother's voice furrowed back into his ears, louder than he wanted it to be as Virgil shut his eyes so tight that they hurt in the already dark closet.

“It’s the best one any of us have got.” Remus’s voice was quieter than Virgil could ever really remember hearing it, it was kinda fucking weird to be honest, to hear his friend's voice be that small.

His friend’s mother sighed, “Well, the guillotine only falls on those who don’t move away from it.”

Virgil felt his face scrunch up in confusion at whatever the hell that insane sentence was supposed to mean, but before he could actually spend any time trying to figure out what was going on and whether or not he should be worried, Remus was already replying, “As you always say Mom.”

“Oh shut it dear, I say it for a reason. So these friends of yours are going to get you out?”

Obviously Virgil couldn’t see Remus nod or anything, but he thought he must’ve, since a moment later his mom spoke again, “Do you have any plan for what you’re going to do when you somehow manage to illegally move to Auradon? Any at all?”

“No but-”

“It’s fine son,” the mother's voice cut through, interrupting Remus’s attempt at a response, “If you ever are truly left without anything, in a true worst case scenario, I would like you to use this number. Only in dire situations however.”

At that, Virgil heard a slight rustling of paper, but the clothes sitting next to him scratched at his skin and instead of listening to the conversation between the mother and son, he just did his best to tune them out, while struggling to dislodge the sticks from where they were poking into his back as well as lightly pushing the clothes out of his way, trying to not make as much noise as possible.

Out of nowhere the door to his hiding spot opened with a bang. 

Virgil shot up and snarled at whoever was in the entrance way, stopping his growling only when he saw that it was Remus, standing with the light of the room at his back frowning slightly.

“Come on Virgey-poo! We still gotta head to Janus’s house.”

“One day you’re going to explain to me what the hell is even going on in your closet.” Virgil grumbled, as he stumbled out of the small space.

Remus just snickered lightly in response, before bouncing over to his bed and helping Janus out from where he had been hiding under it.

“Well, ignoring everything that just happened, you don’t have what you need Remus, correct?” Janus called out from where he stood up a few feet away from the bed as he adjusted his hat.

“Yep!” the boy crows in response, already hurriedly pushing Janus and him towards the fire escape, a slightly manic look in his eye that Virgil would be a bit more scared of if it wasn’t Remus he was talking about.

Before climbing downwards, as Remus seems to really want him to, Virgil shares a look with Janus, both of them having one of their eyebrows raised. He breaks the gaze after a second though, vowing to himself to talk with Remus later about whatever the hell that just was, and starts down the fire escape.

He jumps down from the final few rungs and stands to the side, watching as Remus and Janus follow. The group moves as a unit from there, resuming their earlier positions with Remus watching their backs and Virgil heading the front, slowly moving from the Queen of Hearts abode to the house Janus calls something resembling ‘home’. 

As the group continues forward, Virgil can’t help but wonder about what the hell he had heard. The weird phrases were well… weird, but Virgil couldn’t do anything other than dismiss them, this was the Queen of Hearts and it wasn’t like he hadn’t heard Remus pull out weirder shit.

Still though, the Queen sounded sketchy as fuck when she was talking about fallback plans, and if this hadn’t been concerning Remus’s mom, Virgil would bet everything he’s ever owned that Janus would interrogate Remus about that.

A shoulder shoved against his, snapping Virgil out of his thought process, and he stiffened at the contact. Before he could react any further than that, Janus stepped in front of him, obviously being the one who had pushed into Virgil.

“What the hell dude?” Virgil snarked back at the scale-faced boy across from him.

“We’re here in case you haven’t noticed. You and Remus shouldn’t feel free to stay outside while I get my stuff,” Janus took a breath before directing his next statement at both of the two in front of him, “I’ll only take a second, don’t get killed in my absence.” 

Remus took a second to grin, “I’ll only die when you’re present, dear snakey!”

The other boy just raised his eyebrow at him before nodding and bolting towards the small low-ceilinged building in front of the group.

Virgil turned to Remus, stopping when he saw that the teen was ringing his hands. It was kinda weird for him to have literally any signs of being nervous. Normally Virgil would just interrogate him on whatever he’s worrying about so that he too could worry about it, but Virgil had a feeling on what Remus was worrying about and he’d rather not intervene with that when not in a place that's somewhat safe. 

Instead of asking about whatever was running through Remus’s head to make him worry, Virgil just tilted his head towards the other and grinned, asking “So why were there sticks in your closet?”

“Aww Anx! You do care,” Remus crowed, leaning towards him almost conspiratally “So do you remember that weird meet-up a few weeks ago?”

Virgil found himself nodding along to the story, listening as Remus spun him the tale of a few weeks ago that ended in him having sticks in his closet and apparently he just never thought to take them out again. It was nice, in a weird stupid way to hear his normally exuberant friend return to that exuberancy while talking like they normally would, as if they weren’t all gonna leave the only home they know in a few days and might possibly be executed for it.

“I’m done, are you all ready to leave to Logic’s abode now?” Janus called, from where he slunk through the alleyway towards them. Virgil felt his eyes narrow as he caught a minute flinch at Remus’s loud reply that echoed through the largely empty and dark streets surrounding the group. 

Throughout the years, Virgil had been noticing more and more flinches from Janus, usually in response to loud noise or fast movements, they were hidden well, because this was Janus he was talking about, and to be perfectly honest Virgil wasn’t a paranoid bastard he probably wouldn't have noticed at all.

He had been trying to figure out what to do with it for ages, but chances are, it was the Isle fucking his friend up more than anything else and until literally yesterday, he couldn’t do shit about that. 

For now Virgil just tilted his head towards Janus and when he got a nod in response, he started the trek towards Logan’s house, the other two in tow behind him. 

The moon was barely shining by the time they really started to pick up the pace, the heavy presence of smoke from the various fires made by people trying to ward off the chill not helping matters. If it wasn’t for years of scouring the streets of the Isle in both dark and daylight, Virgil would likely be beyond lost right now, the lack of light making it hard to tell where different streets began and ended.

“Anxiety.” A voice rang out from the shadows as they walked, causing Virgil to hiss, his teeth bared, before he fully recognized the voice. 

“Mr. Petridis?” He warily called out, watching as the man who they’d been heading towards anyway, Logan’s father, stepped forward out of the dimly lit alley he’d been standing in.

Beside him, he could feel rather than see Janus and Remus slipping out of the fighting stances that they’d both thrown themselves into at the sound of the voice that belonged to a man Virgil was pretty sure neither of them had ever met.

The father in front of him nodded grimly, his olive toned skin catching what little moonlight there was as he raised his right hand, ignoring Virgil’s barely there flinch at the movement, and released something into Virgil's palm. 

“Give that to my kid, okay son? You two better be looking out for each other.”

Virgil just nodded in response, looking down at his hand to see a small scrap of paper, folded carefully into what might just be a swan if he squinted hard enough.

“You know that the chances of Logic being able to do anything with you after they leave is low.” Remus quietly speaks, tilting his head to the side as his eyes seek out Mr. Petridis’ own.

The man just smiled thinly, replying, “My kid was never going to stay on the Isle, at least this way they can do it without immediately having to worry about being on the run for authorities.”

Janus looked at the father, his face drawn in as he considered something before nodding, and gesturing to Remus and Virgil to follow him as he moved back towards the exit of the alleyway. 

Before walking away, Virgil took a considerate look at Mr.Petridis, waiting for him to say anything else before they leave, but he just gives a tight nod and a pointed glance at the paper clenched in Virgil’s hand before leaving the way he entered.

Virgil takes a deep breath, surfacing in the here and now of what just happened, before leaving to follow Janus and Remus again. 

At the very least, they won’t have to make a pitstop at Logan’s house like they were planning to, but Virgil isn’t entirely sure that he wants to hurry home with the paper in his hand.

It’s not like he’s going to keep it from Logan or anything, since Remus would probably get on him if he did, but it feels almost too personal. The Logan that Virgil knows is rational, cold, and to a certain extent, sticks heavily by their namesake, but there's this small rough thing in his gut telling Virgil that whatever’s in that paper is going to break that.

The minute he puts in a second of thought into it, Virgil really isn’t that surprised that Mr.Petridis confronted them instead of the opposite, the man did always like rushing ahead when he could, Virgil thought grimly to himself.

Still though, Remus almost looks a bit happy about the intrusion, despite the way he threw himself into a fighting stance in surprise. Now that Virgil actually looks at him, the taller boy almost seems to look antsy from the way he’s flexing his hands. To be fair, the past day and night has put them all out of sorts, and Virigl can’t blame Remus if he wants to get back to the hideout as soon as possible.

The shack that Virgil usually sleeps in looms quickly above the group, and this time they don’t even bother with words, just exchanging nods as he moves quickly forward, entering the house that's defined most of his life. 

Once Virgil reaches the side of the wooden shack, he roughly shoulders open the cracked window that leads to his bedroom, and he crawls through the small opening, wincing when his head bangs against the window.

The room hasn’t changed at all in the day he’s been gone from it, the cracked face of the clock still ticking steadily away, his clothes still thrown messily into the old wooden dresser his father helped him build. Virgil grimaces at the thought of his dad, the old man probably thinks he got beat up or something along those lines after the announcement.

Virgil takes a deep breath, doing his best to center himself in the little time he has, before moving forward, immediately striding over to the small cabinet above his bed where he hides most of his potion ingredients, including the ones that Logan tasked him to attrieve. Ripping open the door, Virgil frowns as he looks through the bottles and small bags, muttering to himself the names of the ingredients as he searches the labels for them.

As he reaches out to grasp what he is pretty sure is one of the few materials when the door to his room opens with a loud creak.

Virgil spins around, the bottle he was holding still in his hand, but the only person he’s faced with is his father, looking at him with a small frown on his wrinkled face.

“Well son, you’ve got yourself into a speck of trouble.”

The rush of surprise that had kept him frozen where he was standing faded, and he snapped out, “I didn’t exactly ask to be set up for this.”

Dad just nods, his eyes sharpening as he opens his mouth to speak, “I got contacted briefly by Auradon and they informed me of a few of the details of this.”

“And?”

“And apparently they want to give you a proper education and ‘reform’ you,” Virgil swallowed hard at that, but his dad continued on anyway, “They also are planning to train you to use those abilities that you may or may not have been born with.”

“You don’t like that.”

Virgil’s dad shakes his head, “They will teach you wrong, it would be best if I could do so, but we both know that won’t happen, so you will have to rely on books to guide you.”

“Do we even have books like that? Because I doubt that Auradon will just give me access to anything with that sort of information.” Virgil narrows his eyes at the man across from him, a frown pulling at his face.

Still though, he watches as his father pulls two rough, worn-looking books out of his jacket and places them on the small desk next to him. He looks at Virgil, with something he would almost call pride if it wasn’t his father he was talking about, before giving him a nod and speaking in a tired tone, “The pick-up for you and Logic is tomorrow night at 12 in the alley two blocks away from the docks to the right. I doubt we will be able to see each other in person for a while, so this is goodbye my boy.”

Virgil just nods, turning to grab the rest of the ingredients that he needs before picking up the go bag that he’s been keeping well-supplied and available since he was eleven, before moving towards the door, stopping right in front of his dad.

“I’ll see you when I see you dad.” He watches as his father gives him a tight-lipped smile and nods, before grabbing the books from beside him and striding out the door.

The night is darker than it was when Virgil entered the building, the clouds having moved to cover the moon, but his eyes immediately seek out Janus and Remus anyway. With how utterly brilliant the past day has been, Virgil doesn’t even bother to say anything to the others, just gives them an ‘we’re all good to go’ gesture before walking forward into the narrow maze-like streets.

The trip back to the hideout seems to go ten times faster than it normally does, though Virgil is ready to admit to himself that it might just be the exhaustion. This point is further proved when he walks into the base, hands off the bundle of supplies to Logan, who just raises an eyebrow before going back to the pot that he was stirring, and flops down onto his bedroll.

Faint murmurs of low conversation between the three still awake surround his ears, but Virgil doesn’t pay them much attention, just burrows further into his blanket and slowly, ever so slowly because this is him he’s talking about, falls asleep.


	5. funny what happens with time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter on this one, hope you enjoy it though!
> 
> chapter title is from ‘I thought U were better than that’ by Cyberbully Mom Club
> 
> TW: nightmares, possibility of drowning, oceans, mentions of bribery

_ Sink or swim. _

_ The pounding waves crash and burn into his ears, Virgil can’t speak, can’t even breath _

_ He gasps at the sheer blow of the freezing ocean and the force of the worries for a friend who he was too stupid to call a friend because friend means weak link, because friend is something they say he is not allowed to have. _

_ Breath is scarily scarce in his lungs as he pushes forward, straining to reach that friend who tried to leave, because everyone tries to leave but this time he would not let them go. Every bit of strength in his little eight year old, wait why was he fucking eight again, body surging forward with the thought.  _

_ Virgil is barely able to see Remus struggling against the storm, but the stark white in his hair sticks out well enough, so he continues on anyway, his arms flailing and legs kicking as hard as he can.  _

_ Sink or swim. _

_ He knows in his very bones that Janus was waiting back at the Isle, waiting for the only two people in the world he really cared about, and Virgil’s a liar most of the time but he meant it with every bit of him when he promised that he would drag Remus back.  _

_ For now Virgil just pushes and pushes and pushes because his mother once told him that to sink or swim was the way of life, and now he is swimming and swimming and begging his friend through stuttered breaths to do the same. _

_ He can see the border that marks the end of Isle territory  _

_ His limbs are breaking and burning and freezing, and then there is nothing and nothing and nothing, because Remus has turned back towards him and they are trying. _

_ They are trying to swim together back to the last member of the stupid trio that Virgil vows to call friends in his mind because fuck their parents. _

_The wave above them looms, and all Virgil can do before it crashes down on them is scream. Then there is only blue, only water, only white noise, then there is just black and_ ** _Virgil_** **_can’t_** **_breathe_** _._

Virgil surges up from his bed, gasping desperately for breath in the dark room, 

His back finds the wall behind the mattress and he curls up against it, his hands clasped together as he tries to force them to stop shaking.

Everything feels too tight, too much, and he can’t stop himself from scanning the area for threats, even as stuttered breaths move past his lips.

Looking around, Virgil feels genuine relief to see that all the others bodies were still asleep and filling the room with light breathing. His eyes stop when they come to Remus, lying prone on the beat up couch. 

His chest hurts, the type of biting ache that doesn’t go away with time and Virgil can’t help but curl around himself, even as his arms continue to shake.

A lot of things have changed since that night, most of them for the better, but even if this nightmare wasn’t enough to tell him that some things hadn’t ever really healed, Virgil’s smart enough to admit that the way he flinches whenever Remus gets too close to the ocean isn’t a fucking accident. They all talked about it years ago, when the wound was still fresh, and he knows that Remus didn’t mean for any of it to happen. Still though, one of your only friends dying because they tried to get off the Isle and having to be the one to keep them alive isn’t exactly something Virgil can just forget. 

It’s not like all of them have really forgotten it, or at least if Janus’s constant tracking of all of their locations and Remus’ own avoidance of water say anything. Virgil would include the occasional nightmares that he hears when they all sleep at the hideout but, he thinks as he runs his hand through his hair, there are more than one thing that those could come from.

Shoving aside those thoughts, and as much as he knows that he should probably try and go to sleep since tomorrow’s, well, tomorrow, Virgil still moves on shaky legs off the bed anyway, swearing as he kicks off the blankets that were circling around his waist. 

Remembering anything about that night always messes Virgil up more than it has any real right to, and even though he doesn’t get nearly as many nightmares about it as he used to, the thought of swimming in anything approaching the ocean still fucks with him.

He rubbed his eyes with his wrists before looking up and slowly stumbling his way through the dark base, doing his best to avoid his friend’s bodies as much as possible, cause’ evil knows they’re all gonna be going through enough in the next few days and Virgil would rather not ruin what little sleep they might be able to get before it comes.

The mostly hidden staircase that he walks towards isn’t really a part of the building that any of them use at all, but Virgil would rather be there than in a crowded room as he tries to ignore his nightmare. Even as he feels his hands shake with silent tremors and his thoughts circle back to it without any input from him.

By all evil, he hated thinking about that night. That one stupid fucking night where Remus and Virgil almost died, and Janus was almost left alone on the Isle. The others might not talk about it nowadays, and to be perfectly honest Virgil never wants to talk about it either, but he’s completely willing to admit that all of them had come so goddamn close to losing it all that night.

Honestly, Virgil didn’t really remember much of the day that led to it, how could he when everything important happened under the cover of darkness instead? But even then, he does recall that the day had been calm, not to mention way more sunny than the Isle’s skies had any right to be, and a part of Virgil rings out with a creeping feeling that today will be similar, a kind day before the chaos to follow.

Finally, he reaches the end of the staircase, trudging up to the heavy metal door that blocked the rest of the building from the usually smoke-filled night sky. Pushing open the door, he’s met quickly with a gust of cool wind, chilling the already drying tears on his cheeks that he hadn’t noticed as Virgil takes a deep breath. 

The sky is nicer than he would have expected it to be, dotted with a shit ton of stars and the moon glowing prettily high up. A small worm of contentment buries into him as he steps up to the railing of the concrete roof, reaching out to clasp the iron railings. 

For the first time in what has to be years, Virgil just rests his head in his arms and looks up at the stars. He shivers in the cooler winds that are lightly flying around him. Virgil felt overheated and uncomfortably sweaty earlier but now, out in the open on the cool rooftop, he's grateful to find it’s mostly faded away. 

A thing in the back of his mind that Virgil is trying to ignore, is warning him that this isn’t going to last, that something or someone is going to ruin it, and it shoves back to Virgil's earlier thought about the calm before the storm before he can direct it to nicer thoughts, or at least nicer by Isle standards.

For a second the cold winds feel like that ocean did years ago, cold and enveloping and utterly inescapable in a way that has him ducking as far into the warmth and relative safety of his hoodie as possible.

“Anxiety? I heard you leave and was concerned about your state of being.” A voice that Virgil instantly recognized as Logan’s quietly echoed over the small rooftop.

Virgil doesn’t bother to turn around to face the other teen, choosing to just stare out into the sky as he responds, “I’m fine. What's got you awake, dude? Staying up to three AM seems more like my style than yours.”

“Yes well, there are many preparations to be made for tomorrow.” Their voice cut sharply through the air and even Virgil had to turn to raise an eyebrow at how defensive they sounded.

“I’m guessing that Deceit and Remus told you what time that we’re leaving at?”

“I was appropriately informed,” Logan paused for a moment, adjusting their glasses before clenching the hand into a fist at their side, “However, there is something I would like to talk to you and the others about before our imminent departure.”

Virgil frowned, trying to remember what the other could be talking about but he couldn’t think of a single thing that Logan could be going on about, but it was probably important if they were confronting him about it at three AM, “Is this about your dad? Because he looked fine last time we s-”

“I’m sure he’s adequate,” Logan interrupted him, “what I mean to tell you is on the topic of my name.” 

Virgil’s stomach dropped the second those words hit him, and he started to stumble out a response but Logan was already continuing with their next sentence, “While my legal and public name is Logic, I also widely prefer to go by Logan. If we are going to be working together for the continued future, I would rather you and your compatriots know that then not.”

All that Virgil could do for a second was stare.

It took Logan starting to shift uncomfortably beside him for him to sputter out a high-voiced response, “So, yeah, about that,” Virgil took a deep breath and shut his eyes tight before rushing out, “Me and the others already knew that.”

“You what.” He opens his eyes only to see Logan blinking at him, their face closed off with an expression that Virgil doesn’t even begin to know how to read.

“A few years ago Deceit got in a bit of trouble with some guys down near the docks. At first, it was fine y’know? He thought he had it all handled, but it ended up spiraling pretty quickly.” Virgil took a deep breath, the wind blowing lightly into his face even as he could feel Logan’s eyes on him.

Continuing on with the story, grimacing as he went, “Deceit was being blackmailed but didn’t tell me or Intrusivity about it until it was kind of a big mess, and by the time we could do anything about it, they were making some big demands. One of the things they wanted from him was some info on some of the up and coming Isle kids.”

Logan cut to the chase, their tone sharp as ever, “And I was one of them.”

Virgil nodded, grimacing, “You were one of them. So Deceit did some digging, and somehow, i don’t even really know to be honest, he found your name. Evil forbid, me and Intrusivity found out about it and fucked the guys up before Deceit handed anything out or got messed up, so your name is safe.”

“Safe with people who found it out without my consent.”

“Yeah,” Virgil opened his eyes and looked straight at Logan, “But we wouldn’t just expose something like that, and honestly Deceit wasn’t going to hand over that shit back then anyway and definitely wouldn’t do it nowadays. I’m not going to act like we aren’t kinda shady or weren’t shady back then but we’re doing our best, and I mean it when I say that there’s a reason we call you Logic despite knowing your real name.”

Minutes ticked by without anything being said, and Virgil didn’t even really know what to do to fill the void that he just left, so instead he just wrings his hands and waits for the judgement call.

The sound of Logan sighing fills the cold outside air.

“I am...” They pause for a second before continuing, their face scrunching up a little bit at the words that they bite out, “angry, at this breach of privacy. However, I stand by my decision to give you my name, and you, as well as the others, may use it in private if you wish.”

Virgil can’t help but search the teens face for some type of sense that this is a joke, that they're lying or faking it just to get back at them later, which to be perfectly honest he wouldn’t even blame them for. An odd corner of his mind is still relieved when he finds nothing.

“My real name is Virgil.” He spits it out as fast as he can, not giving himself time to regret the decision.

He knows that he could just leave it there if he wanted but he continues on anyway, “I would really, really, prefer that you only use it when it's just us and the others, and I’m not going to tell you their names or any shit like that, but yeah, my names Virgil.”

Logan considers him for a moment, their glasses glinting in the shining moonlight, before nodding, “The potions we need for tomorrow are in the early to mid stages now, would you mind looking after them tonight, Virgil?”

Letting out a breath that Virgil didn’t even know he was holding, he gave a small relieved grin to the other teen, “I can take over. Now get some fucking sleep you dumbass.”

The teen just raises an eyebrow at him and nods, before turning around and briskly walking towards the door that led downstairs.

“Are you not coming?” Logan called out when they realized that Virgil wasn’t following.

Virgil waved a hand at the other, “I’ll be down in a bit Logan, just give me a second.”

They look at him for a second, but they must find whatever they're searching for in his face because they move through the door and down the stairs.

He turns back towards the railing that he’s gripping, taking a deep breath of the cold air. 

Eventually, Virgil is going to need to go back inside to work on the potions and figure out what in all evil he’s going to do, but for now, a part of him would really rather just stare at the stars, at the dark Isle below.

It would be stupid to call any of this beautiful and he knows it’s not, he’s seen the violence on the streets below, hell he’s even taken part of it more than once, but still. 

Regardless, the sound of bones cracking fills the night as Virgil takes a step away from the edge of the roof and stretches his arms upward. A shiver wracks his body, and Virgil sighs before moving towards the exit, he’d like to stay but Janus would give him hell if he got a cold from standing outside at three AM.

Casting his mind towards the people sleeping downstairs, sprawled over couches, he can’t bring himself to be too sad about going back to that, even if he’s losing a brilliant view.

  
  



	6. I don't wanna go but everybody knows this place is dying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the bit of a long wait on this one, the next chapter will probably take a bit longer too so sorry about that in advance. Either way, the chapter title is from Moonsickness by Penelope Scott, and I hope you enjoy reading!
> 
> TW: food (eggs to be specific), threats of violence, and snakes.

The rest of the night goes fast, a blur of looking over two bubbling pots and before Virgil could really even process any of it, the sun was starting to shine brightly through the cracked kitchen window. 

Even if everything else was kind of a mess, Virgil reflected grimly to himself, at least the potions that he and Logan had been working on for hours turned out well.

Speaking of Logan, the idiot napped for like half an hour after Virgil came down before getting up and trying to insist that they needed to work on the potions despite the fact that he had it handled. Thankfully, at that point Remus briefly woke up and while bleary as all hell, told Logan to ‘go the fuck to sleep nerd’, before immediantly dropping back onto the couch to sleep, which both made Virgil have to suppress a snicker and was surprisingly effective. 

Virgil grinned a bit at the thought of it, even as he stood from where he was watching the sky blue and dark pink potions to move towards the fridge where he grabbed a bunch of eggs and started to get ready to cook breakfast. Remus and him had fixed up the previously broken fridge into something that halfway worked at keeping food from spoiling and even roughly a year later Janus still sang their praises whenever they got a chance to cook anything with it. 

Speaking of the scaled teen, Virgil turned around from the eggs to see him standing from the corner of his eye, at the door that led to where he assumed that the other two were still sleeping. 

Janus gave him a sluggish nod as he stumbled further into the kitchen, yawning as he went, “Did you sleep at all?”

“I’m gonna have to decline any comments.” 

A grumbling noise came from behind him, barely hearable over the sizzling of the pan, “Liar. You missed all of our  _ definitely important _ planning when you passed the fuck out as soon as you got here.”

Virgil felt his shoulders stiffen at the mention of last night, and Janus must have sensed the change in mood because he immediately followed it up with the threat, “Though I can and will stab you if you got less than eight hours and aren’t planning to get more.”

“Guess i better get on that nap then.” Virgil snorted as he heard Janus hiss from where his head was in his arms, probably wishing he was still asleep knowing how much of a non morning person he was.

Janus sighed, snarking back, “Betrayal. My own friends hate me and their sleep schedules, I  _ can _ believe this, evil knows I’ll never recover.”

“Brave words from the guy who once spent a week only napping in thirty minute segments without any real sleep just to win a bet.” 

And of course, because they were both slightly sleep deprived bastards, those words only led to the two of them bickering over whether or not napping counted as actual sleep.

Virgil slid the now finished eggs onto a few plates, and spoke up loudly in response to something Janus just said, “Wait, wait, you can’t say that pillows are what makes it a nap instead of a rest, that doesn't even make sense!”

He could see Janus’s mouth open, probably about to fire a retort back, but instead Logan’s voice rang out, “Naps are periods of sleep that range from zero to thirty minutes, I do not see how they depend on the surroundings of the person.”

The teen stepped inside the kitchen, looking way more put together then they probably had any right to be, considering that there was no way they’d been awake for more than five minutes, and Remus quickly bounded in after them, looking appropriately like a mess.

“The only difference between naps and rests is that you can’t be murdered during naps.” Remus proclaimed to the rest of the room as he skipped over to grab his plate of eggs from the counter.

Janus was the first to break the silence, with a raised eyebrow and incredulous tone, “And  _ don’t _ tell, why the fuck is that?”

“I agree with Intrusivity, the vibes just don’t work.” Virgil cuts in. 

Speaking up from where they had settled next to Janus at the kitchen counter, “To divert from the main conversation for a second, I appreciate the meal Virgil.” Logan gestured with their plate towards Virgil in thanks.

“See? At least  _ someone _ likes my cooking, thank you Logan.” Virgil complains.

Remus and Janus freeze at his sentence, and he can’t think of a reason why until Janus carefully speaks up, his posture tense and eyes flickering between him and Logan, “Did something happen last night that me and Remus were not made aware of,  _ Virgil _ ?”

Realization crashes through Virgil, and he curses himself in his head for completely forgetting to tell Janus or Remus about what had happened last night between Logan and him.

Before he could start to explain, Logan spoke up, “Neither me nor Virgil could sleep last night, and we ended up having a conversation in which I told him my name, immediately after which he informed me of your previously acquired knowledge of it. While I am not happy about it, I do give permission for you all to use it, and in the same following conversation Virgil told me his.” They adjusted their glasses in a slightly shaky movement, looking just as tense as everyone else.

“I didn’t tell him your guys’ names.” He can’t help but put in, not wanting his friends to worry.

He knows as well as anyone that Janus doesn’t take kindly to breaches of privacy, especially when it comes to his name. To be fair, Remus doesn’t care nearly as much, mainly keeping the whole alias up for tactical use more than anything else, but even then he’d probably want to be the one to reveal it instead of Virgil doing it. 

Remus was the first one to speak up, glancing between the two of them before shrugging, “Did either of you fall off the roof and go splat?”

“The only one here who’s done that is you, dumbass, and that was just because of that bird that knocked you over.” Virgil snarked back, internally glad that they hadn’t taken anything the wrong way.

When he turned around to grab his own plate to eat, Janus caught his eye and sent him his own little grin, which Virgil readily returned, before starting to shove the eggs in his mouth.

\------

The rest of the day passed quickly in a hazy potion-making frenzy, spurred on only by Janus’s rushed planning and Remus’s insistence on reordering their packs in a way that could actually fit everything.

If nothing else, Virgil was willing to admit that it was nice to just focus on working with his friends, even as he ran, leaping over a table as he went, to grab the right ingredient from his pack that would stop the pink potion from a possible explosion.

All too soon, or at least too soon in his opinion, the sun started to set over the Isle while Virgil and Logan portioned the potions, or ‘potion like substances’ as the other teen insisted on calling them, into small jars.

“We have the antidotes ready, right?” Virgil asked Logan as he lifted his backpack onto his shoulders, the potions secure inside it.

The teen nods back at him, “I imagine that we will be fine in that aspect of this venture.” 

Letting out a breath he didn’t even really know he was holding, Virgil grabbed his knife from the table and slid it into his sleeve. The chances of someone trying to jump the group were way higher than he liked, especially with their escape from DW and Toby only the day earlier. To be perfectly honest, it was a miracle that the only person to interrupt their supply-gathering last night was Logan’s dad, Virgil couldn’t help but think to himself.

By the time Logan and him finished tucking away the potion-making supplies and making sure no lab equipment was going to set on fire in their absence, the other two were standing at the exit, with Remus grinning while bouncing up and down, obviously wanting them to hurry the hell up.

“Are you bastards finally ready?” Janus dramatically checks his watch before continuing, “Like we were ten minutes ago?”

Virgil can’t help but roll his eyes at the display but it’s Logan that responds first, “The letter said that the car would be here within an hour, I’m assuming from your prior words that you all are apt to leave now?”

He could practically feel the mood drop when Logan finished his question, even as Remus enthusiastically nodded his answer. Virgil’s lips tugged downwards at the reminder that they were going to be leaving the Isle in only a few short hours, and that leaving meant going outside where people were probably going to try and kill them.

  
Before Virgil could start to spiral with that thought, Janus reached over to him and tapped his shoulder, a questioning look on his face. The tense ball of fear in his chest that he could almost feel was about to start choking his lungs, loosened the tiniest bit at the show of concern.

Logan and Remus started talking quietly as they started the descent down from the building and he was unproportionately glad that when Janus sidled up to him to speak, the noise covered his words. “If nothing else, we seem to  _ definitely _ have to worry about a bright sky revealing our location too soon.”

Janus’s words themselves weren’t wrong, he knew. Virgil had always been the one in the group best at choosing routes for anything ranging from escapes to food trips and if any of them knew how this type of thing worked it would be him. 

The past had taught him well though, even if Logan would say probably a bit too far, and Virgil knew he hadn’t made it this far with just good planning and lucky cloud coverage. 

It was for that reason that having at least two sets of weapons on them at all times outside was a rule that he had implemented years ago. Isle kids never make the same mistake twice, Virgil grimly admitted to himself, mainly because if they did they’d be dead.

Shoving those thoughts aside, he slid down the ladder with Janus right behind him and shouldered past the broken down doorway until a dark alleyway that he had ran through only a day ago came into view.

Walking at a brisk pace forward, the group sneaked through the streets of the Isle, hyper aware of every sound that came from around them to the point where Virgil could feel his shoulders raise and feet skitter back whenever so much as a voice from what was at least two streets away rang out.

None of the group talks as they move and if he didn’t know Remus and Janus as well as he did, he would probably be surprised since they’re both talkative assholes. Virgil appreciates it though, loud noise covers up other noise and he can feel his shoulders tense up just at the thought of that happening right now. 

He can’t help but be happy that he was so cautious though, when a thud reverberated through the alleyway the group was creeping through. A flash of annoyance ran through Virgil as he thought about how they were getting so fucking close to the meeting place.

Ignoring his irritation for the moment, Virgil spun on his heel towards the sound, snarling lightly as he moved to face the cause of the noise. 

“I was wondering when I was going to find you all, especially after you were oh so rude running out of our last talk.”

“Well I missed getting to fully bludgeon you last time, but if you wanted a redo you should have just asked!” Remus cocks his head and grins at DW, even as she moves further into the alleyway the rest are parked in.

Frowning, Virgil scans the surrounding rooftops. DW is barely ever seen without Toby, and the fact that he can’t see him anywhere is weird as hell.

DW catches his eye as he tries to peer around the alley, and gives him a low grin as she starts to talk, “Yes well, I just wanted to remind you all of what I said yesterday, can’t have you forgetting about my little offer.”

“I hardly think that was much of an offer.” Janus spat out from where he was standing behind Remus.

“Really? I think it was a pretty good deal, all you have to do is make sure that us Isle-born get out permanently in exchange for me and my brother keeping your loved ones alive. It was certainly not the worst thing I could have given you.” 

Virgil can’t help but grimace in acknowledgement of the point. With all four of them gone, even if DW didn’t know about Janus and Remus yet, she could have murdered one of their parents to show that she would murder the other one if they stepped out of line. He wouldn’t even put it past some of the people on the Isle to try to poison them and give a fake cure if they managed to get the barrier keeping everyone in down. DW wasn’t even close to a good person but she wasn’t the type to lie about this, Virgil was willing to bet that she’d keep her word about not killing their families.

Shaking away those thoughts, Virgil bared his teeth and responded “Cool. We won’t forget about your threats or whatever, now do you mind? Some of us have actual things we need to get to do that isn’t threatening people in alleyways.”

The woman in front of him just raises an eyebrow and laughs, “That’s funny from a guy who has an entire reputation for threatening people in the streets.”

Janus took the opportunity to interrupt again, looking tense as everything evil, “Do we need to  _ escort _ you away from us? because I’m sure Intrusive and Anxiety would be glad to do so if you’d like.”

“Don’t worry, I can take a hint. I suppose I’ll be seeing you boys in three months time, or I’m sure you understand the consequences.” The second DW was finished speaking she turned and walked slowly away.

Virgil’s hand twitches for his knife and he knows that Janus is probably doing the same. Still though, they weren’t supid. If she was exposing her back like that to them then she most likely had safe-guards, something to make sure that they, or their families Virgil thinks with a grimace, wouldn’t survive too long if they actually did try anything.

Despite the fact that the group was just standing still watching her leave instead of actually continuing on, Virgil was still surprised when Logan stepped forward, being the first to move.

The teen looked behind their shoulder, probably to check that DW was out of hearing distance, before turning back to speak to the rest of them, “We should continue on with our previous path. There is still about thirty-eight minutes before the car arrives, but we are going to need time for the potions to take full effect.”

Remus was the second to start moving from there, nodding at Logan before speaking up himself, “Logie-bear’s right.”

As much as he wants to stay and talk more about whatever they're going to do with DW, Virgil can’t help but agree with the other two. They literally cannot miss this car, it just isn’t an option. 

With those lovely thoughts circling his head, the group starts forward again in the same direction as last time. Though if they all are a bit more cautious of how much noise they’re all making and where it's coming from, Virgil sure as hell isn’t going to comment on it. 

\-----------

Thank everything evil, the journey to the pick-up spot didn’t have any more sudden interruptions, and before Virgil felt even vaguely ready for it, the group was hiding a street away from the assigned meeting place.

The car, or whatever the hell was picking them up but Virgil had no idea what else it could be, wasn’t there yet and he tore the potions quickly from his bag while still trying not to break the bottles before the others could take them. 

Once he handed Remus and Janus their potions, respectively a pink bubbly one and a blue darker one, the latter was the first to break the silence, “So how do we  _ not _ drink these without dying?”

“What would happen if I ate it instead?” Remus immediately asked as he peered curiously into the bottle.

Logan let out such a weary sigh at the question that Virgil couldn't help but snicker a bit, even as he moved to answer their questions, “Just drink them as you would a cup of water, you’ll probably have a headache or something of the same train afterwards but it should take effect fairly quickly.”

Janus grimaced as he looked at his potion, “I suppose I’ll see you all properly again when we arrive at Auradon. Don’t break anything too expensive while i’m unable to talk you idiots out of it.”

Rolling his eyes, Virgil gestured for the other teen to drink the potion already, “What ever would we do without your pristine guidance.”

With those words, Janus downs the potion and Remus immediately follows, chugging it like he was in a drinking competition.

For a second nothing happened, and the four were left awkwardly staring at each other, but just as Logan opened their mouth to comment on it, Janus and Remus disappeared. It wasn’t even a ‘in a bright flash of light’ type disappeared but a ‘one moment they were there, the next they weren’t’ type that left Virgil reeling internally trying to find them.

“Oooh! This is fun!” He jumped when Remus’s voice rang out a few feet away, even though there was no body or anything to be found.

“It is acceptable to see the potion-like substances working their intended purposes, on both Intrusivity and Deceit it seems.” Logan stated, their lips upticked in a small smile.

Looking around a bit more, Virgil found that the teen wasn’t wrong with their conclusion, because where Janus had been standing now laid a snake in the process of slithering towards him. 

Those potions were a bit of a dice roll, but Virgil was beyond glad to see that they were working well with Janus shifted and Remus invisible. The snake that was Janus finally got to Virgil, and when he held out his hand towards him, he crawled onto his arm, slowly climbing him until he reached his neck.

It was just in time too, as only a few seconds after Janus got settled hiding in Virgil’s hoodie, a car screeched into the alleyway that they had been watching.

Virgil sighed, his chest feeling heavy, and he turned to Logan to speak, “Well, it’s our time to shine now.”

The teen nods back at him, their expression oddly solemn, so the two walk forward towards the car together, and even as Janus hisses lightly into his neck out of view while Remus trails silently behind them, the walk feels worse than it has any right to.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot exaggerate how excited i’ve been to introduce Janus in snake form.


End file.
